Ink feeding mechanism



July 14, 1936. F. P. SAGER 2,047,433

INK FEEDING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 17, 1934 July 14, 1936. F: SAGER 2,047,433

INK FEEDING MECHANISM Filed July 17, 1954 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INK FEEDING MECHANISM Application July 17, 1934, Serial No. 735,573

16 Claims.

This invention relates to an ink feeding mechanism for printing machines.

In the Commodore D. Ryan application for United States Letters Patent, Serial No. 652,255, 5 filed January 18. 1933, there is disclosed an inking mechanism for inking the printing die of a machine for printing postage stamps upon appropriate mail matter. The ink feeding mechanism of this invention, for convenience of illustration and description, has been applied to this same form of machine although it is to be understood that the invention may be readily adapted to other types and forms of printing machines.

15 One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide an ink feeding mechanism which will be reliable in operation and which will function to definitely and positively deliver a pre- 7 determined quantity of ink to the printer head inking pad during the operation of the machine,

whereby the machine may be operated efficiently over long periods of time without need of attention.

A further object is to provide an ink feeding mechanism which will act to feed ink to the printer head inking pad to maintain this pad efiiciently supplied with ink at all times when the machine is running and yet so organized as to prevent feeding of ink when the machine is not printing; to provide an ink reservoir and feeding means which will neither leak nor clog; and to provide an ink feeding mechanism which will be mechanically actuated to meter out a predetermined quantity of ink to the ink pad during the operation of the machine and to evenly spread this metered supply of ink onto the active surface of the pad.

A further object is to provide means for driv- 40 ing the ink feeding roller from the printer head operating mechanism, and to provide the roller with appropriate metering grooves by means of which a predetermined quantity of ink will be fed thereby for each revolution of the roller.

45 Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the nature of the same is more fully understood from the following description and accompanying drawings; wherein is set forth what is now considered to 50 be a preferred embodiment. It will be understood, however, that this particular embodiment of the invention is chosen principally for the purpose of exemplification, and that variations therefrom in details of construction or arrangement of parts may accordingly be effected and yet remain within the spirit and scope of the invention as thesame is set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 illustrates a longitudinal sectional view of a postage printing machine of the type shown in the stated application to which my invention has been applied. In this illustration the registering and other mechanisms which have no direct bearing upon my invention have been removed for sake of clearness.

Figure 2 illustrates a sectional end view taken substantially in the plane of line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 illustrates an enlarged iragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 illustrates an enlarged fragmental sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 44 of Fig. 1.

Figure 5 illustrates a plan view of the ink feed- 0 ing roller which is provided with a single long metering groove. 4

Figure 6 illustrates a plan view of an ink feeding roller which is provided with a plurality of staggered metering grooves.

Figure 7 illustrates a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 1-1 of Fig. 6, and

Figure 8 illustrates a modified form. of driving means for the ink feeding roller.

Printing machine The ink feeding mechanism of this invention may be advantageously employed in many different types of printing machines. In the previously referred to Ryan application, a postage printing machine is illustrated and described. This same form of machine will be made use of herein for the purpose of illustrating and describing one application of the ink feeding mechanism of 40 this invention to such a machine. As the Ryan application contains a complete description of the printing machine, it is deemed unnecessary to repeat this-description other than to those portions thereof which are directly related to the present invention.

The several parts and mechanisms of the printing machine are mounted upon a suitable frame casting 20, to the forward end of which is suitably mounted a resilient platen 2|.

A printer head 22, which is provided upon its under surface with appropriate printing type 23, is normally retained elevated above the platen and is actuated into printing relation with the platen during each operation of the machine. As

most clearly shown in Figures 2 and 3, the printer head is carried upon and between the free ends of a pair of oscillatory levers 24 and 25. The opposite ends of these levers are pivotally mounted to the frame casting brackets 26 as by means of the cross shaft 21. This arrangement permits the printer head to be swung to and from the platen. Spring means 28 are provided for yieldingly maintaining the printer head in its elevated position as shown in Figure'l. A driving means 29 is provided for actuating the printer head into printing engagement with the platen. This driving means may include a driving shaft 30 suitably journaled in the frame and having at its forward end a crank arm 3| arranged to coact with a pair of cam plates 32 and 33 carried by the printer head for actuating the head through a printing cycle for each revolution of the shaft.

Guard boa: structure In this type of postage printing machine, it is important to provide a guard box structure 34 to protect the machine against fraudulent use.

The guard box structure may be formed of a single casting having a pair of rearwardly extending arms 35 and 36 pivotally mounted at their ends to the cross shaft 21. The structure may be provided with three cross members 31, 38 and 39. The guard box structure is differentially actuated with respect to the printer head and for this purpose shaft 30 may be provided with an appropriately shaped cam 40, the periphery of which rolls against the cam roller 4|, which roller is journally mounted upon the structure cross member 38, (Fig. 1). A spring means 42 acts to yieldingly retain the cam roller in contact with cam 40.

Ink pad structure An ink pad structure 43 may be substantially .like the one disclosed in the Ryan application,

while the ink pad proper may be like the one shown in the Commodore D. Ryan application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 718,662, filed April 2, 1934, entitled Ink pad.

The ink pad structure is slidably mounted on the guard box structure and is operated so as to underlie the type face of the printer head during the rest period of the machine and to be brought into engagement with the type face to ink the same at the start of the printing cycle and to be later withdrawn from the path of travel of the printer head and finally returned to its initial position at the end of the printing cycle. For this purpose, the ink pad may be removably mounted upon a carriage 44, which carriage may be provided with guide members 45 slidably mounted in the guideways 46 formed on the inner side face of each of the guard box arms. The rear end of thecarriage may be flanged downwardly, as at 41, to which the carriage actuating means may be attached.

The oscillatory motion of the guard box structure may be made use of for reciprocating the ink pad carriage to and from its retracted position for each cycle of operation of the machine by pivotally connecting one end of the bell crank lever 48, as by means of a pin and slot connection to the cross member 38 of the guard box structure and by connecting the other end. of lever 48 to the flanged portion 41 of the carriage as by means of link 49. The bell crank lever may be pivotally mounted upon the pivot pin 50 supported upon the frame casting standards 5|.

The mechanisms and structures so far described are substantially like those disclosed in the two Ryan applications.

Ink feeding mechanism The ink feeding mechanism is one of the im- 5 portant features of this invention and differs in several important respects from the similar device of the Ryan application.

The ink feeding mechanism may include an ink tank 52 suitably mounted upon the guard box structure and may be provided along its lower edge with a sectoral bearing 53, the bore 54 of which may be communicated with the interior of the tank by means of a number of ports 55. A shallow groove 56, formed in bore 54, may con- 15 nect the several ports but does not extend to the ends of the bearing and acts to evenly distribute ink onto the periphery of an ink feeding roller 51.

The roller 51 is so closely and accurately fitted into bore 54 of the sectoral bearing 53 that substantially no ink will be fed to the ink pad other than that quantity which is carried in the metering grooves 58. In this Way, with each revolution of the roller, a predetermined quantity of ink will be delivered to the ink pad, and unless 25 the roller is rotated no ink will be fed to the pad.

It is important, therefore, to provide means for positively turning the roller during each operating cycle of the machine to insure a correct feeding of the ink. For this purpose, the end 59 of 3 the roller may be turned down to receive a ratchet wheel 60. The turned down portion 59 may be flattened on one side and the bore of the ratchet wheel correspondingly treated (Figure 3), to insure a positive driving connection between the 3 ratchet and roller. A spring pawl 6| may be provided to prevent rearward turning of the ratchet wheel.

The difierential motion between the printer head and the guard box structure may be utilized for turning roller 51 through a portion of a revolution for each cycle of operation of the machine.

This differential motion may be made use of by pivotally mounting a ratchet wheel driving pawl 62 upon the lever 25 of the printer head as by the pivot pin 63 and by spring means 64 yieldingly urging the engaging tooth 65 thereof into position to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel and to thus turn the ratchet wheel just at the end of the downward motion of the head. During this portion of the operating cycle the guard box structure remains stationary.

The arrangement of these parts is such that with each cycle of operation the ratchet wheel will be turned one tooth and, as the ratchet is 55 provided with ten teeth, it will be rotated onetenth of a revolution each time the machine operates.

The ink tank and feed roller are mounted upon the guard box structure and oscillate therewith 60 during the operation of the machine. It will be remembered that the ink pad carriage is also mounted on the guard box structure and due to this arrangement all of these parts swing together with the movement of the guard box.

As may be observed in Figure 1, roller 51' is positioned to engage the rear edge of the ink pad when the machine is at rest but during the downward movement of the guard box structure the ink pad is moved rearwardly under roller 51. This action does not turn the roller to cause ink to be fed to the pad but does have the tendency to redistribute the ink contained within the pad. The roller is turned, however, when the printer head moves downwardly sufiiciently to bring the 75 tooth of driving pawl 62 into engagement with one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 60, thus turning the roller a partial revolution. This arrangement maybe adjusted to turn the roller a lesser or greater amount, depending upon the quantity of ink required for each printing cycle. With each turn of the roller, very little ink is supplied to the pad until the metering grooves 58 are turned into engagement with the pad surface. In the arrangement of the parts shown, this feeding takes place once for each ten operating cycles of the machine, which has been found to feed the correct quantity of ink to maintain the pad sufficiently saturated to insure clean, clear impressions. It will be understood that the quantity of ink fed by the roller may also be regulated by increasing or decreasing the capacity of the metering grooves or by providing the roller with a greater number of metering grooves. As may be noted in Figure 4, the metering grooves 58 are relatively short. The reason for this is to supply ink to that portion of the pad which is engaged by the type plates of the printer head. In a postage printing machine where the printer head is provided with two relatively short, spaced type plates, one for printing the postage indicia and the other for the date circle, it is preferable to arrange the metering grooves as in Figure 4, while in machines such as check signers adapted to print a relatively long name, the metering groove 58a may be made proportional to the length of the name engraved on the type plate. In this way a very accurate control of the ink fed to the pad may be had and permits themachine to'make many thousands of impressions without attention to this detail. In some instances, the metering grooves may be broken up into a number of short grooves 5812, as shown in Figure 6, and the short grooves arranged in staggered relation.

It is preferable to deliver the ink fed by roller El directly onto the forward portion of the ink pad, which portion is engaged by the printing plate, instead of the rear portion of the pad, which is not engaged thereby, and it is for this reason that the ink feeding roller is rotated while the pad is in its retracted position.

It is also desirable to rotate roller 51 in a clock wise direction, as viewed in Figure 1, whereby the ink delivered to the pad surface while the pad is in its retracted position will be evenly spread over and worked into the pad as it moves forwardly on its return stroke under the peripheral surface of the roller.

As the ink pad structure is yieldingly mounted, it will act to press the surface of the pad against the under periphery of the roller whereby the ink contained in the pad, as well as the quantity. fed thereto, will be evenly spread over the'entire surface thereof, thus insuring that the type plates will be evenly inked and a clean, even impression printed thereby.

Operation The operation of the machine may be briefly summarized as follows.

The driving means may be brought into play to rotate shaft 30 one full revolution for each operating cycle of the machine.

Due to the shape of the printer head and guard box structure driving means, the type plate of the printer head and the ink pad carried by said structure will be momentarily brought into close contact to ink the type plate, or plates, and next these two elements are separated, whereupon the,

guard box is swung downwardly to engage and hold such mail matter as is present for treatment.

During the downward swing of the guard box, the ink pad structure is moved out of the path of travel of the head to its retracted position. The rearward travel of the ink pad is brought about by the bell crank lever 48 and during this travel draws the surface of the pad across the under. periphery of the ink feeding roller 57, which roller remains stationary and acts to redistribute the ink contained within the pad. After the guard has reached the limit of its downward travel, the printer head which has been moving slowly is quickly swung into printing engagement with the held piece of mail matter and also acts during this. motion through the pawl and ratchet wheel to turn the ink feeding roller and, by means of the metering grooves 58 formed in the roller, to feed a predetermined quantity of ink to the surface of the pad. The ink thus fed to the pad is on the side of the roller toward which the pad will travel upon its return stroke and thereby this newly fed ink will be evenly spread and Worked into the pad as the surface thereof slides under the periphery of the roller as the pad is retiuned to its starting position. After the printer head has engaged the mail matter, it quickly returns to its elevated position and. when the head nears the ends of its stroke the guard box starts to move upwardly and as a result thereof drives the ink pad back into its initial position. At the end of the cycle, all of the parts will be returned to their starting positions ready for the next cycle of operation.

It has been found that with an ink tank of suflicient size and the metering grooves of proper capacity, that many thousands of clear, clean stamps may be printed without attention on the part of the operative.

In Figure 8 there is illustrated a modified form of driving means for the ink feeding roller which may include a driving pawl lb pivotally mounted on the frame casting standard H, as at 12, and by spring means 13 yieldingly urged into position to engage the teeth of the ratchet wheel 74. The ratchet T l may be made fast to the ink feeding roller 15, whereby as the guard box structure 36 swings upwardly from its full to its broken line position, as illustrated in this figure, the ratchet wheel will be turned an amount equal to one tooth. The rotation of the ink feeding roller will meter to the pad a predetermined quantity of ink in the manner previously described.

It is to be understood that, instead of grooving the ink feeding roller, it may be flattened on one side or otherwise deformed to feed a metered quantity of ink during its operation.

Having fully described the invention, it is to be understood that it is not to be limited to the details herein set fortl'ribut the invention is of the full scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a printing machine, a printer head, a guard box structure, means for diiferentially actuating the printer head and the guard box structure, a printer head ink pad operatively associated with thegsai'd structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried, by the guard box structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the inkpad during its travel, and means, operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

2. In a printing machine, a printer head, a guard box structure, means for differentially actuating the printer head and the guard box structure, a printer head ink pad operatively associated with the said structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the guard box structure, a grooved ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

3. In a printing machine, a printer head, a guard box structure, means for differentially actuating the printer head and the guard box structure, a printer head ink pad operatively associated with the said structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the guard box structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and a pawl and ratchet means operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

4. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted printer head, an operatively mounted structure, means for differentially actuating the head and the structure, an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, a printer head ink pad removably mounted on said structure, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during the travel thereof, and means operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

5. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted printer head, an operatively mounted structure, means for differentially actuating the head and the structure, an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, a printer head inking pad resiliently mounted on said carriage, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the resiliently mounted ink paid during the travel of said pad, and means operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

6. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted printer head, an operatively mounted structure, means for differentially actuating the head and the structure, an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, a printer head inking pad removably and resiliently mounted on said carriage, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during the travel thereof, and means operatively responsive to the differential movement of said head and structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

7. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted structure, an actuating means therefor, an ink pad operatively associated with said structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operable during the movement of said structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

8. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted structure, an actuating means therefor, an ink pad operatively associated with said structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the said structure, a grooved ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operable during the movement of said structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

9. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted printer head, an operatively mounted structure, means for differentially actuating the head and structure, an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, a printer head inking pad yieldingly mounted upon said carriage, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operable during the movement of said structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

10. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted printer head, an operatively mounted structure, means for differentially actuating the head and structure. an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, a printer head inking pad yieldingly mounted upon said carriage, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by said structure, a grooved ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operable during the movement of said structure for tuming the ink feeding roller.

11. In a printing machine, an operatively mounted structure, an actuating means therefor, an ink pad carriage operatively associated with the said structure, an inking pad removably mounted upon said carriage, an ink pad carriage actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply means carried by the said structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in the ink supply means and arranged to be engaged by the surface of the ink pad during its travel, and means operable during the movement of said structure for turning the ink feeding roller.

12. In a printing machine, a printer head, a guard box structure, means for differentially actuating said head and structure, a printer head ink pad operatively associated with said structure, an ink pad actuating means operable by the movement of said structure for retracting said pad, an ink supply tank carried by the guard box structure, an ink feeding roller sectorally journaled in said tank and arranged to engage the surface of said pad during its travel, and means for turning the ink feeding roller while the ink pad is retracted for feeding a predetermined quantity of ink thereto.

13. In an ink feeding mechanism for a printing machine, a printer head, an ink pad therefor, means for actuating the inking pad into inking relation with the printer head and thereafter for retracting said pad, a source of ink supply, an ink feeding roller in communication therewith and arranged to slide over the surface of the inking pad during its travel, and means for turning the ink feeding roller while the ink pad is in its retracted position for feeding a predetermined quantity of ink thereto.

14. In an ink feeding mechanism for a printing machine, a printer head, an ink pad therefor, means for actuating the inking pad into inking relation with the printer head and thereafter for retracting said pad, a source of ink supply, an ink feeding roller in communication therewith and arranged to slide over the surface of the inking pad during its travel, said ink feeding roller having one or more ink metering grooves, and means for turning the ink feeding roller while the ink pad is in its retracted position for feeding a predetermined quantity of ink thereto.

15. In an ink feeding mechanism for a printing machine, a printer head, an ink pad therefor, actuating means for said pad operable for bringing the pad into inking relation with said head, retracting said pad thereafter and finally returning the pad to its starting position, a source of ink supply, an ink feeding roller in communication therewith and arranged to slide over the surface of the inking pad during its travel, and means for turning the roller in one direction for feeding a predetermined quantity of ink to the pad at the side of the roller toward which the pad is to travel whereby the ink will be evenly distributed and worked into the surface of the pad by the periphery of the roller during the travel of said pad.

16. In an ink feeding mechanism for a print ing machine, a printer head, an ink pad therefor, actuating means for said pad operable for bringing the pad into inking relation with said head, retracting said pad thereafter and finally returning the pad to its starting position, a source of ink supply, an ink feeding roller in communication therewith and arranged to slide over the surface of the inking pad during its travel, said ink feeding roller having one or more ink metering grooves, and means for turning the roller in one direction for feeding a predetermined quantity of ink to the pad at the side of the roller toward which the pad is to travel whereby the ink will be evenly distributed and worked into the surface of the pad by the periphery of the roller during the travel of said pad.

FRANK P. SAGER. 

